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RedEaredSlider writes "From the IB Times article: 'Researchers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., have come up with an idea to improve on an old standby of space exploration instruments and improve the odds of finding life, if any, on Mars. By adding a laser and an ion funnel to a mass spectrometer, it is possible to analyze the elements from the Martian surface directly, without the complex handling samples usually needed... The new version uses a two-step technique. First it shoots a laser at the sample's surface. This creates a plume of molecules and ions. To get the ions into the mass spectrometer, the new system uses an ion funnel. The ion funnel uses conductive, progressively smaller electrodes in the shape of a ring that attract the ions, effectively vacuuming them into the mass spectrometer.'"

"There are a lot of exciting discoveries about Mars that have yet to be made," Paul Johnson, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement. "This technique could make understanding the composition of rocks and soils on Mars -- possibly including evidence of life -- much easier."

It doesn't sound like a bad idea. How does this compare with the "RAT," which was installed on Spirit and Opportunity? I assume that it's not as likely to get jammed or clogged as the RAT, or previous "scooping" mechanisms that retrieved soil samples. Honestly, though, I feel that drilling into the sample source would give more accurate composition results than a light laser burst, which I can't imagine would be able to knock off more than a few layers of molecules.

Perhaps a bit of perspective is called for here. We're not sending Triffids or Daleks to Mars anytine soon.

The kind of bitty little laser they're talking about is unlkely to "hurt" anything bigger than a few cells of mould or bacteria. If you're seriously expecting them to come back to bite us on the ass, you're in for a long wait.

But the dead non-witches could still have a Christian burial, while the living witches could be tortured until they repented. Either way, the inquisitors figured that a soul was "saved". Oddly, the very idea of a "lost" soul would seem (especially before relativity theory) to imply that souls have zero rest mass. They're not just light, they must be entirely massless!

Captain Kirk phasered a creature that looked like a giant cheese burger patty, called a Horta. But after Spock did a Vulcan Mind Meld with it, Kirk felt guilty. So McCoy beamed down to bandage it with construction cement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horta_(Star_Trek) [wikipedia.org].

We just don't have the patience anymore to wait for them to be beamed to earth. But an array of repeating tiny satellites with lasers could solve this. (first internet connection on Mars. Speed of light. Yes. That could be possible if there were some initiative.

Uhm, hey, buddy, I think radio transmissions and laser beams both travel at the same speed - the speed of light.

Increase in throughput / decrease in interference is not the same as an increase in transmission speed.

Have you ever actually used a microscope? You can't just put one on an arm and wave it over a patch of dirt and expect to see anything interesting. Microscopes capable of resolving bacteria have a very tiny depth of field, so if you point it at a patch of ground there'd be nothing in focus. You have to take samples, mount them on a slide, stain them (usually), and then place them under a microscope. And on Mars, most potentially interesting microbes will probably be buried. To do that you have to have

Why send instruments like that, why not just send up a robust microscope with a HD camera? It will never be seen as confirmed unless you see the buggers moving around.

Well, people have been staring at the Martian ALH 84001 meteorite with all sorts of high-tech microscopes for many years, and they still can't agree on what it is that they see.

As far as moving around, on Mars it's not unlikely that any life there would be like the bacteria found in solid rocks miles below the earth's surface. Those have such slow metabolism that they can take thousands of years to divide.

Vaporising the stuff and sniffing the results should also be able to detect the remains of dead organis

Probably because the "finding life" is just something essentially tacked on for press. It's a better way of doing mass spectroscopy, because we're mostly looking for rock and soil compositions. Yes, if they happen to be organic that could contribute to the discovery of life but that is a fringe case. That and that life is likely to be hidden away from the surface, we have a bigger chance of observing deposits that have been brought to the surface than actual life.

Look, we'll just stay down here until that thing goes away. They're always peaceful, just scooping up some dirt and getting stuck once in awhile. Come on, it isn't like it'll fire a laser at...
OK, General - you were suggesting a massive pre-emptive attack?

As soon as I read "mass spectrometer," I instantly began to hope that we don't overclock the spectrometer to, say, 105%. Such experiments may very well produce evidence of extraterrestrial life, but such life may prove to be extremely violent. The life may even turn our technology against us and decide to engage us in an interstellar conflict. Chances are that being the scapegoat-seeking humans we are, we would probably divert our resources towards trying to cover up the event. In that case, ff we becom